Federation vide letter dated 30.03.2019 had requested the Railway Board to formulate proposal for allotment of Qualification based Pay Matrix to the ECG Technicians of Railway Hospitals and obtain clearance of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the MOF. In continuation, the Federation desires to place following additional points for making out comprehensive proposal:-

I. Federation has undertaken a comparative study duly comparing the Recruitment qualification and Scales of pay allotted to the ECG Technicians working at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital,Delhi under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare with that of ECG Technicians of Railway Hospitals. A report running into three sheets from the periods of Previous Central Pay Commissions i.e. 3rd CPC to 7th CPC is attached to this letter as Annexure ‘A’ to this letter.

II. A careful study of the comparison mentioned in Annexure ” A” would reveal as under:-
(a) The ECG Technicians appointed in Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi (under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) have never been in possession of the standard qualification relating to the job expected from an ECG Technician, while in Railways, the ECG Technicians possess “Diploma in ECG Lab Technology”.

(b) ECG Technicians in Railways have never been treated atleast equal to those working in the Central Government Hospitals and have rather been treated inferior. This situation has been prevailing since the period of 3rd CPC.

(c) The DR qualification prescribed for the post of Sr. ECG Technician in Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for Gr. Rs. 1400-2600 (IV CPC)/5000-8000 )V CPC)/PB-2 GP 4200 (VI CPC)/Pay Level-6 in 7th CPC is Bachelor’s Degree in Science with Physics with one year’s experience in handling cardiological equipment or 3 years Diploma Course in Electronics/Electrical communication Engineering (VI CPC). Whereas in Railways, though the qualification for the post of ECG Technician got revised during 6th CPC regime to Degree in Science plus Diploma in ECG Lab Technology/Cardiology/Cardiology Technician/Cardiology Techniques of reputed institution [refer Railway Board’s letter No. E(NG)II/2001/RR/45 Pt. A dated 29/09/2015], unfortunately they have not been treated at par with those ECG Technicians of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
III. In addition to above, Federation desires to bring to the notice of Railway Board that in the ESIC Model Hospital cum ODC, MIDC, Andheri (E), Mumbai-93 under the Ministry of Labour, Government of India, vide recruitment notice published in Employment News (8-14 August 2009) the qualification prescribed for the post of ECG Technician in PB-1 + GP 2800 is as under:-

“Preferably Science Graduate or Matriculation or Equivalent. Should have experience of 1 year of handling ECG Machine”.
Copy of the said Recruitment notification is enclosed as Annexure ‘B’.

“Matriculation or equivalent qualification from a recognized Board with experience of handling Electronic Cardio Graphics Machine for one year from a reputed institute”.

Copy of the above notification is attached as Annexure ‘C’.

V. The above points are sufficient to prove that on Indian Railways while the ECG Technicians are with higher qualifications than the ECG Technicians in the Central Government Hospital (Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi) and other Government Hospitals, unfortunately, the Railway ECG Technicians have been treated unfairly by the successive Central Pay Commissions, although they deserved placement in PB-2+GP 4200. Federation also desires to state that the qualification prescribed for ECG Technician in Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi and other Central Government Hospitals is Polytechnic Diploma which is not at all relevant with the post of ECG Technicians.

VI. Federation incidentally mentions that the duty list of ECG Technicians (vide Para 202 (33) of IRMM-2000 vide S. No. 1 Health 2003) is as under:-
(a) Take all Routine and Emergency ECG’s.
(b) Assist Doctor in performing:-
(i) Master ECG
(ii) Treadmill Test
(iii) Holter Recording
(iv) Echocardiography
(c) Will assist in maintenance of equipments, AMC, all records pertaining to the procedures and equipments, Statistical data, making appointments, instructions to patients regarding part preparation etc.,
(d) Performing any other duties as may be assigned by the Administration from time to time.

VII. Another point which needs to be admitted is that there is no channel of promotion at all for ECG Technicians in Railways and they are forced to retire in the same recruitment Grade Pay/Pay Level while those recruited in other cadres with lesser qualification in the posts of Pay Level-1 get promoted to GP 2800 and also upto GP 4200, but sadly similar opportunities are not provided for ECG Technicians in Railways.

VIII. Summing up, NFIR requests the Railway Board to kindly review the pay structure of Railway ECG Technicians denovo for providing cadre structure with entry GP 4200+PB-2/Pay Level 6 with further avenue to GP 4600+PB-2/Pay Level-7 similar to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi and obtain clearance of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and MoF accordingly for implementation.

A copy of the proposal being sent to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare/Ministry of Finance may be made available to the Federation for follow up action.